{"id":1951,"date":"2016-08-26T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T04:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:38","slug":"aug-26-w-h-auden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/08\/26\/aug-26-w-h-auden\/","title":{"rendered":"Aug 26 – W. H. Auden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday – \u00a0August 26 \u2014 \u00a0Freshmen Convocation, turning toward the working year<\/strong><\/p>\n

The university\u2019s formal gathering of first year students, in Calihan Hall, home of our athletic teams, locker and training rooms most days. \u00a0But this morning the hall makes a home for new freshmen, for a hour of welcome and challenge. \u00a0What do we want to tell new students? \u00a0 \u201cWelcome to two terms of fifteen weeks that will require work, and patience, and mistakes and starting over again. \u00a0Welcome to moments of tedious labor from which emerge moments to dazzle your imagination and turn plodding into dancing. \u00a0Welcome to your majors, core courses, labs and papers and grade anxiety. \u00a0 All that for sure. \u00a0This is a\u00a0University<\/u><\/strong>! \u00a0It will be worth the sweat.” \u00a0So we want to tell this to our new students this morning.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more. \u00a0Poet W H Auden reminds the reader that, when we pay attention and risk hope, all our labors will turn us toward “a date with Love.”<\/p>\n

I read Auden\u2019s two stanzas as a word we employees say to students as they begin and as a word students say right back to us employees as we begin.<\/p>\n

Best\u00a0to read \u201cthe chimney sweepers . . \u201c out loud, with pauses. \u00a0 \u00a0Have a blest weekend.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post<\/strong><\/p>\n

The chimney sweepers
\nWash their faces and forget to wash the neck;
\nThe lighthouse keepers
\nLet the lamps go out and leave the ships to wreck;
\nThe prosperous baker
\nLeaves the rolls in hundreds in the oven to burn;
\nThe undertaker
\nPins a small note on the coffin saying \u201cWait till I return,
\n\u201cI\u2019ve got a date with Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

And deep-sea divers
\nCut their boots off and come bubbling to the top,
\nAnd engine-drivers
\nBring expresses in the tunnel to a stop;
\nThe village rector
\nDashes down the side-aisle half-way through a psalm;
\nThe sanitary inspector
\nRuns off with the cover of the cesspool on his arm \u2014
\nTo keep his date with Love.<\/p>\n

(From Garison Keillor http:\/\/writersalmanac.publicradio.org\/index\/index.php?date=2005\/02\/21&gt<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Auden\"<\/a><\/p>\n

w h auden (February 1908 – September 1973)
\n(https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/W._H._Auden<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday – \u00a0August 26 \u2014 \u00a0Freshmen Convocation, turning toward the working year The university\u2019s formal gathering of first year students, in Calihan Hall, home of our athletic teams, locker and training rooms most days. \u00a0But this morning the hall makes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1952,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions\/1952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}